A Typical Day

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a writer. Duh. What I mean is, I'm writing books. Fiction, mostly young adult. Which I hope to one day publish. I've written three manuscripts so far, but the first two were just practice.

Writing a novel is hard work. It takes a lot of discipline and self motivation. And a constant war with my inner censor, but that's for another post.

Being a stay at home, it's easy to get distracted by the little things. Food shopping, cleaning, scheduling doctor appointments, planning birthday parties, field trips, volunteer stuff. You get the picture. So, I try working off a schedule.

It goes something like this...

8:30:      Take kids to school
9-11:      Work on rewrite of The Interpreters (make Sergio a more likable character, try a different POV)
11-1:      Work on blog (post entry about lemon water, take some pictures)
1-2:45:   Work on query letters (research fabulous literary agent, revise my hook)
3:00:       Pick up kids

It's a nice, concise, manageable schedule. I would consider this a fulfilling, worthwhile day. A big accomplishment. Working towards my goals.

Unfortunately, you know how it goes with the best laid plans...

8:30:          Take kids to school
9-9:30:       Eat granola and drink (more) coffee
9:30-10:     Phone call (my sister in Tallahassee, haven't talked to her in weeks, I had to pick up the phone)
10-10:30:   Book ski trip (if I don't do it, who will?)

10:30-11:   Confirm tennis (and get in a little gossip)
11:15-12:   Pilates class (because I can't sit on my ass all day staring at a computer screen)
12-1:          Make and eat lunch (something involving way too much cheese)
1:15-2:       Send a few emails, mostly complaining about stuff and people (OMG, I am SO high school)
2:2:30:       Have a(nother) snack
2:45:          Pick up kids (leave a little early so I have time to chat with moms)

Sigh. There's always tomorrow.

To read the first chapter of The Interpreters, click here.

Lemon water

Drink more water. Even more. Not that much. Don't drink it cold. Don't drink after 7pm (because it's time to move on to a glass of wine. Or two...).

I know I don't drink enough water. If I drank more, my skin would look younger and I'd probably get fewer headaches. The thing is, unless I'm really thirsty, I don't love the taste of water. It's okay, better than soda but not as good as coffee. But it's not good enough on its own for me to consume sixty four ounces a day. And, to be honest, it doesn't completely quench my thirst anyway.

Still, I know I need to drink more water. My solution? A squeeze of fresh lemon juice. What a difference! It tastes so good, I can easily drink a lot during the day and it totally quenches my thirst. Really. So, what's behind this miraculous fruit? Here's what I've found out...

Raw lemons are great for you. Unless you're allergic to citrus fruits, like my Aunt Kathy. In that case, skip this post.

Apparently everyone knows that lemons have antioxidant properties. I didn't. Here are some other benefits:

• good for digestion (without getting too specific, it's made me quite regular)
• high in vitamin C, which is good for the skin
• can help you lose weight
• good for fighting stress
• cleanses the liver and kidneys
• contains calcium, magnesium and potassium
• a glass of lemon water first thing in the morning kick starts your metabolism
• helps fight a nauseous stomach 

Just writing down all this stuff makes me want to get a big tall glass of water with lemon.

I go to this incredible massage therapist who's been helping me with my migraines. One afternoon she asked me if I'd been drinking a lot (of wine) lately. Uh, yes. She suggested I try drinking water with lemon because of the alkaline content. I had no idea what she was talking about, but if she recommends something, I do it.  Even though the lemon itself is acidic, when it's in your body it becomes alkaline. Um, ok.

Of course, if it's not easy, I won't do it. So to simplify, every morning after dropping the kids at school, I fill a Tiffany pitcher with water (I'm finally using something from my wedding registry) and squeeze 2 or 3 lemon wedges into it. The pitcher holds about 56 ounces of water, so my goal is to drink it all over the course of the day.

I'm thinking of buying one of those meyer lemon trees. I hear they are easy to grow indoors.

source: brighterblooms.com

How much should you drink?

Well, according to Lyn-Genet Recitas book, The Plan, you should drink half your body weight in ounces. So, let's say I weigh 100 pounds. Just say it. Then I should drink 50 ounces of water per day. She also recommends that you don't drink more than that, and drink it all before 7:30pm.
 

source:  lyngenet.com

Btw, the other reason why I like Lyn-Genet Recitas is because she believes that too much exercise is bad for you. Can't argue with that.

p.s. sorry Aunt Kathy, I promise the next post won't be about citrus fruit.  Or strawberries.  Or carrots...


For more detailed information on the health benefits of lemons and lemon water:
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4769/Why-You-Should-Drink-Warm-Water-Lemon.html
http://www.beliefnet.com/Health/Physical-Health/Hidden-Health-Secrets-of-Lemons.aspx
http://www.energiseforlife.com/wordpress/2006/02/10/lemon-water-alkalising-superstar/
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/16-health-benefits-of-lemons.html

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's a journey. Trying to create a healthy lifestyle for my family. For myself. There are many roads and sometimes it seems like we're all on a different one. My six year old is often on Marshmallow Ave., while my nine year old prefers Butter Lane. Occasionally our paths cross and we share a single meal together. But mostly I make three different ones, every day, and from those choices the five of us find nourishment. So if I can include some healthy choices in the mix, I feel like we're moving forward.

To further complicate my life, my husband has decide to train for a triathlon. (It's amazing what one marathon can do for your confidence). For some reason, he thinks this means he needs to become a vegan. I may have to rename the blog Four Different Meals.

Who am I? I am a flawed mother of three. Don't believe me? Just ask my middle child how bad I am at my job. She'll tell you.

But that's all backstory. Today it's about finding an egg free chocolate chip cookie recipe. My youngest daughter has an egg allergy. Usually I substitute ground flax seed for eggs and it works great. But her birthday is coming up and our school is nut and seed free, so I need another option.

Ok, so chocolate chip cookies don't exactly fit into the healthy category. But as I said, it's a journey. And today we're going off-roading.

I found this amazing recipe on Pinterest. It's similar to the regular toll house recipe but without the eggs. No substitutions. Really. These cookies are amazing. They remind me of Tate's chocolate chip cookies. Only better because they're homemade and warm and I know every last organic ingredient that went into them. I may never go back to ground flax seeds.

Here's the recipe. Or you can go right to the source (It's a gorgeous blog called Crunchy Creamy Sweet and her pictures are infinitely better than mine).

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached flour (sometimes I use half white, half whole wheat)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I used coarse sea salt and loved the unexpected bursts of salt)
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar (we use turbinado)
2 Tbsp milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (or a little more...)

Preheat oven to 375.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  (I use the pre-cut baking sheets, so easy).  Mix together dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.  In large bowl, using electric mixer, cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.  Add milk and vanilla and combine.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop rounded teaspoon size balls onto baking sheet and flatten gently.  Bake 13-15 minutes.

Take them out of the oven, eat 1 or 2, and hide the rest.

Since these were a trial batch, I divided the cookies into little baggies and stuck them in the freezer.  At least for the next few days, I won't have to worry about an after school snack.

Three Different Meals

Why is grass fed beef better than grain fed? Which foods fight cancer? Should I be taking probiotics? Organic or local? Is unrefined sugar really better than the white kind (I mean, it's still sugar)?

These are some of the questions I've been asking myself since I had my first child, eleven years ago. And still, I can't figure out what to make for dinner. Every time I hear or read something new about the right way to eat, my head spins. Should I become a vegetarian? A vegan (God, I hope not)? Should I stay away from pasta and other carbs? Is it ok to eat red meat? How much? And on and on.

I'm setting out to find answers to my questions. One food dilemma at a time. My quest to find real answers to eating real food.

Why Three Different Meals? Because each night I make on average three different meals to feed my family of five; that's three kids, two allergies and a triathlete-to-be. Crazy? Maybe. Exhausting? Definitely.